LETTER: Trash piles-up unchecked

A year ago at least, I spoke to the grounds manager at Tesco in Lottbridge Drove about the total mass of litter clogging the bushes surrounding that store. He seemed quite unaware of the situation, but promised he would ‘look into it’ as the site was due a visit by gardeners. All the gardeners did was to cut back the hedges a little.

Which is just as well since the hedges acted as a filter and were all that prevented the mass of trash from blowing onto the road in all directions. I had at the same time written to Tesco’s main office in London expressing my dismay and concern about the ugly and depressing accumulation of trash on this site, especially since at that time the profusion of plastic, paper and cans had now been joined by none other than an armchair and a sofa (I kid you not). Surprisingly, I heard nothing from head office.

To walk by the Lottbridge Drove site is depressing and baffling for anyone with any conscience and care for the environment. It is a great example of laziness, inconsideration for the neighbourhood and inconsideration for their civic responsibilities.

What makes it all the more insufferable to my mind is that I have visited other countries where I don’t find such inexcusable and anti-social behaviour. In Japan, you might be surprised to know, there are no street cleaners. Yet the place is tidy and for any supermarket to be surrounded by a ring of trash like this would be utterly shameful.

Travelling along the A27 from Eastbourne, the roadside litter is almost continuous from Stone Cross to Falmer. Plastic of all types and sizes, along with cans and paper. Most is on the roadside, but quite a lot is suspended in bushes and trees. It’s vile, depressing and the shame of the county.

R Fallows

Rye Street

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